So Adam Kinzinger Seems Pissed
Fucks left to give: not many.
It sounds like Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republican members of the House January 6 Select Committee and one of the very few remaining Republicans in Congress with any legitimate claim to sanity or patriotism, is having a bit of a "through with this shit" moment.
We guess the combination of — deep breath for this run-on sentence! — the terrorist attack Donald Trump incited against America and the fact Trump has yet to face any sort of accountability for it, and the genocide and war crimes Trump's best pal Vladimir Putin is inflicting on innocents in Ukraine, and the way Republicans and their media mouthpieces sound more and more like state-run Putin assets every day, and the fact that Trump is literally begging Putin nowfuckingrightnow to give him dirt on his political enemy, who is the president of the United States, plus how Trump can't seem to find one harsh word to say about how upon Putin's orders Ukrainian bodies are getting cold in Ukrainian mass graves, oh and then there's that one smart-mouthed little troll colleague of his who called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug," and ...
Well yeah, all that might get to a person after a while. (Maybe it gets to them so much that they eventually regret voting against voting rights? One step at a time, we suppose.)
Michigan GOP Rep. Fred Upton, who along with Kinzinger was one of the 10 who voted to impeach Donald Trump for that wee terrorist attack he incited, announced his retirement today. We already knew Kinzinger was quitting after November.
Here's Kinzinger. He mad.
Instead of a tweet thread about the unseriousness of some members of Congress in this serious time, I just decided to tell you on video:pic.twitter.com/TPJfofOKra— Adam Kinzinger (@Adam Kinzinger) 1649169822
KINZINGER: So I'm back in DC, and what a historic time, obviously. You know, I look at this and I — I mean, I'm in here looking at a minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who hasn't really said a word about his members that have shown Putin sympathy. I never could have imagined my party would not just even have somebody that's showing Putin sympathy, but would not vomit them out if they rose their ugly head.
You know, we have people like Tucker Carlson, in essence, "just asking questions," that's his thing, about whether or not the CIA did, you know, frame all these atrocities we're seeing in Ukraine.
And then the latest outrage of the day is some "woke" thing on Disney, or whatever it is, you know, Dr. Seuss we've moved on from.
I gotta tell you, we've got a bunch of children in this job. We've got a bunch of people that sit around — the world order is being challenged for the first time since World War II. And they're sitting around thinking today about how we can win our next election, what the newest outrage is, what's the next thing we can do to get people angry and upset and get their money from them for our re-election.
We are being governed by a bunch of children. By a bunch of people that are not serious about running the United States of America and truly don't understand the threat that's out there from Vladimir Putin, from China, and from some of these actors in the world that want to destroy our place here.
I mean, there is a genocide going on in Ukraine, and the outrage is over what's happening in Walt Disney. You guys deserve way better. I mean, I'm glad I'm leaving here in a year, because I'm just being surrounded by a bunch of children.
So let's grow up. And I hope my party can finally remember where our foundations are and actually say that we're not going to be Putin-sympathetic anymore.
Wishful thinking.
No notes, would watch again.
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Glenn Greenwald Pretty Sure Putin Winning So Much He's Gonna Get Sick Of Winning
Heckuva job?
We're hearing a lot right now about so-called peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine may be ready to call itself "neutral" and maybe make a couple other concessions, in order to get Russia to stop murdering it. Everybody's pretty skeptical of claims that Russia is really truly pulling back "to increase trust" in the peace talks. Meanwhile, Ukraine is telling its own peace negotiators to make sure not to eat or drink anything or touch any handrails when they meet with the Russians, since it's always likely Russia is in the mood to be poison-y. (There have been reports that Ukrainian negotiators and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich were poisoned in earlier negotiations.)
But regardless, on day 34, this war is clearly in a different place from where Vladimir Putin and his defenders thought it would be at this point. Hell, even western intelligence thought Kyiv would probably fall to the Russians within the first few days. Ukraine still has Kyiv, and says it's pushing Russians further and further back now.
In terms of where Russia finds itself right now, and what it's given up, this thread David Frum posted today is excellent. Here are just a few of the highlights:
5) National unity, anti-Russian animus, and sudden new self-confidence in the Ukrainian people. \n\n6) New skepticism about Russian power and credibility in hoped-for allies, China/India etc.\n\n7) New respect for US/NATO military technique and technology China/India/ etc.— David Frum (@David Frum) 1648658754
Of course, Putin has lost thousands upon thousands of military personnel, including a number of top commanders, and god knows how much materiel.
Russia had to announce the other day that on second or third thought, it's going to just focus on the eastern sections of Ukraine, and maybe not focus so much on Kyiv or other parts of the country. Oh no, were Putin's eyes bigger than his stomach?
As the New York Times put it:
[T]he statement amounted to the most direct acknowledgment yet that Russia may be unable to take full control of Ukraine and would instead target the Donbas region, where Russia has recognized the independence of two Kremlin-backed separatist areas that it calls the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic.”
Hard to say anything beyond heckuva job, Putin.
But for Putin apologists like Glenn Greenwald, it's time to rewrite currently ongoing history and say Putin meant to do all of this, because obviously Putin never wanted to conquer Ukraine anyway.
The propaganda in the West about this war is like nothing seen since 2001, arguably even worse. The day before invading, Putin said the goal was to ensure the independence of two regions of Eastern Ukraine from Kyiv, along with Crimea, along with Ukrainian neutrality.https://twitter.com/michaelbd/status/1508828148649058305\u00a0\u2026— Glenn Greenwald (@Glenn Greenwald) 1648568442
Yes, we remember when Putin declared independence on behalf of Donetsk and Luhansk, right before he started bombing the shit out of the entire country and heading toward Kyiv. Of course, we weren't dense enough to believe Putin at the time. Glenn bought it, though. Strange, considering the number of times Putin has said out loud that his real goal is to take all of Ukraine, since he considers the fall of the Soviet Union the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world. Hell, the day the Kremlin announced Putin's very limited and surgical "peacekeeping" operation in eastern Ukraine, Putin called the very existence of Ukraine a "fiction."
But sure, Glenn, tell us about how Putin just wanted these few little places in eastern Ukraine in the first place, and how efficiently he's accomplished that task in the last 34 days of bloodshed. It sure is clever how Putin is making sure to murder all those civilians in Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine, the very people he's pretending to "liberate" from "genocide" committed by "Ukraine." All part of his master plan, we bet.
Glenn added, "Zelensky is already suggesting Ukraine would accept neutrality (with a security guarantee), and accepts it can't reclaim those parts of Eastern Ukraine, let alone Crimea. Trying to depict that as some grave humiliating loss for Russia will work only with NBC, CNN & BBC viewers." We guess NBC, CNN and BBC viewers are unique among media consumers in that they think when countries declare wars, the plan is to win them.
What's that, Michael Tracey?
When endless US and \u201cWestern\u201d commentators claim Russia\u2019s war hasn\u2019t gone \u201caccording to plan,\u201d they never seem to clarify how they miraculously obtained a copy of this \u201cplan.\u201d Can they please post the PDF?— Michael Tracey (@Michael Tracey) 1648211530
As we were saying.
As Jonathan Last notes at the Bulwark, there is a "serious version" of the question Glenn is asking in these tweets, and amazingly enough, it's asked by Bret Stephens in yesterday's New York Times. Spoiler: Bret Stephens's article is not a picture of Glenn Greenwald with his hand on his hip saying Putin meant to do all this.
Of course, Last examines all the available evidence and finds that Stephens and other conservatives asking the "serious version" of Glenn's question are also wrong.
Also, there's this:
US official says Putin is being misinformed about how poorly Russian military is doing because advisers "are too afraid to tell him the truth.\u201d Putin "didn\u2019t even know his military was using and losing conscripts...showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information."— Kaitlan Collins (@Kaitlan Collins) 1648647432
Elsewhere in News Of Glenn, he's mad that liberals always say his tweets probably sounded better in the original Russian:
Do liberals think it's healthy that there are literally millions of Americans who now walk around talking as if they're the love child of Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, conditioned to believe their American adversaries are clandestine Kremlin agents? Seems unhealthy.https://twitter.com/mikescottyy/status/1509187048363634689\u00a0\u2026— Glenn Greenwald (@Glenn Greenwald) 1648653416
That would be a good tweet if "literally millions" wasn't doing the same work as it did when it was used to describe the 12 dumpy tourists who stumbled upon Donald Trump's inauguration and decided to sit a spell.
Also he's throwing out hot takes about how ACTUALLY "many Americans" don't want the war on Ukraine to end and ACTUALLY the media wants it to keep going because of something Adam Smith wrote in 1776.
Also he's really excited about the ruble rebounding against the dollar.
Also he's babbling about Hunter Biden's laptop.
Also fuck it, this post is over.
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Trump Begging Putin For Dirt On The Bidens. Yes *Right Now*.
If Trump is running in 2024, then he's right on schedule to start seeking foreign help to steal the election.
Today we have a video of Donald Trump just straight up begging Vladimir Putin to release some dirt on President Joe Biden, in order to hurt President Joe Biden. Yes, we said "today" we have this. This is not a rehash of a story from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021. This is right now, while Trump's hero Putin, whom he refers to as a "genius," the guy he was still praising as recently as this weekend, is busy mass-murdering innocents in Ukraine.
What kind of domestic enemy of the United States do you have to be to still be praising Vladimir Putin and begging him for help in hurting the leader of the free world right now? And at what point do we start looking at criminal consequences for seeking to conspire against America with our country's enemies?
Just watch this video.
Trump calls for Putin to release dirt on the Biden family right now since now "he's not exactly a fan of our country" during new interview with Real America's Voicepic.twitter.com/Sp1gDVsSfr— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1648598083
TRUMP: As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country, let him explain where did — because Chris Wallace wouldn't let me ask the question! — why did the mayor of Moscow's wife give the Bidens, both of them, $3.5 million, and that's a lot of money, she gave them $3.5 million, so now I would think Putin would know the answer to that, I think he should release it, I think we should know that answer. Now we won't get the answer from Ukraine ...
Note how Trump says that "as long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country," outright stating that right now — as the US and NATO are working together to punish Russia and help Ukraine in the face of Putin's unprovoked batshit loser war — would just be a really good time for Putin to help Trump hurt Biden.
RUSSIA, IF YOU'RE LISTENING! And if you're not too busy to help out your favorite boy!
This happened during an interview with disgraced fake journalist John Solomon, who was himself an enthusiastic helper in the plan to spread disproven bullshit about the Bidens' activities in Ukraine, in order to help Trump steal the 2020 election. And what was the original source of all that disproven bullshit about the Bidens in Ukraine? You betcha.
Solomon enthusiastically reports that on his "Just the News" show on Real America's Voice, Trump begged Putin to give him some sweet dirt on "Hunter Biden's dealings with oligarchs in Eastern Europe." Trump apparently also babbled about the Ukrainian oligarch who owns Burisma. And then of course this thing about the mayor of Moscow's wife.
The details of that particular conspiracy theory are loopy and batshit, as most conspiracy theories are. It's notable, though, that at one point just before the 2020 American election, Putin himself seemed to throw water on the conspiracy theory, showing "visible irritation" when earlier Trump comments about it were brought up, according to Reuters. Even as the then-GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee was telling us these Biden Ukraine conspiracy theories were coming directly from the asshole of the Kremlin, Putin was suddenly like "NYET!" on this one. It kinda seemed like Putin was hanging his best boy Trump out to dry and abandoning him, just before the election Trump was so obviously going to lose.
In Solomon's report, he dutifully types — seemingly with his tongue securely super-glued to Trump's grundle skin — that in their interview Trump "made clear he treated Putin more severely than Democrats by blocking his NordSteam 2 [sic] natural gas pipeline to Europe, imposing sanctions on Moscow, upgrading the U.S. nuclear arsenal and bulking up NATO’s sagging finances." Solomon typed this literally at the same time he was reporting on Trump begging Vladimir Putin, who currently is "not exactly a fan of our country" and who's currently mass-murdering innocents, to help him dig up fake dirt on Joe Biden, against whom he presumably hopes to run again in 2024.
Also Trump didn't do shit for our nuclear arsenal, he's full of shit on Nord Stream 2, every sanction he put on Russia he did kicking and screaming, and the fucking halfwit, a sworn enemy of NATO, still doesn't understand how NATO finances work.
But sure, we guess in some part of their squirrel brains these two see why it might be important to pretend Trump was tough on Putin at some point.
Of course, if Trump does plan to run in 2024, then he's right on schedule to start begging America's enemies to help him steal it.
By the way, in related news, an extremely influential Russian state TV host and Russian government official named Evgeny Popov referred to Trump this week as "our partner" and said AMERICA IF YOU'RE LISTENING please re-install Trump as president.
Note that Popov is not just some random Kremlin mouthpiece. This is a Russian government official, member of the Russian State Duma, calling for the "regime change" in the United States and identifying former President Donald Trump as Russia's "partner."https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1508943310483767302?s=20&t=mj3Z0VGc8cO1iAim0cL9bQ\u00a0\u2026— Julia Davis (@Julia Davis) 1648600668
You know, in case anyone was still confused where Trump's allegiances lie.
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Kyiv Mayor's Brother Just Saying Tucker Carlson And Candace Owens Have Blood On Their Hands
So that's not subtle.
Wladimir Klitschko is the brother of Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine, and he went on Newsmax yesterday. (The brothers are former world boxing champions, because of course they are.)
Usually we'd imagine a story like this would be going a really strange direction, this being Newsmax. But instead host Eric Bolling asked Klitschko specifically about pro-Russia Americans like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, naming them specifically, who for God knows what reason can't seem to bring themselves to side with the good guys here. (We've documented both Carlson's and Owens's extensive spreading of Kremlin propaganda while Vladimir Putin bombs Ukrainian people to smithereens.)
A documentation of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens's extensive spreading of Kremlin propaganda!
How Much Does Tucker Love Putin? Here Are Some Receipts.
Tucker So Mad Everybody Calling Him Putin's Sidepiece, Just Because He Is
One Person In This Post Is A Hero And The Other Is Candace Owens
Is Tucker Writing Putin's Speeches Now, Or ...
Tucker Literally Saying Putin Not The Enemy, YOU ARE
Candace Owens Reminds World That Zelenskyy Is A (((You Know What)))
And Eric Bolling, the Newsmax host, wanted to know from Wladimir Klitschko, the brother of the mayor of Kyiv, what he thinks of Americans like that. And what Klitschko thinks of folks like that is that "if you're passively observing, you're part of this invasion. Blood is on your hands too."
So that wasn't unclear.
ERIC BOLLING (HOST): Wladimir, you have about two-thirds of the support of the American people right now, but there is a small group — and I'm not one of them — but there's a small group that believe that what's happening in Ukraine is not the United States' problem.
There are some very popular television hosts, Tucker Carlson. I talked about a popular — Candace Owens as well. Conservatives who would typically — I don't know why they're not supporting you and Ukraine, but they're not. What do you say to those people?
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO: If you passively observe what is going on, and we do share the same principles of freedom, and democratic principles like the United States, like the western world, so to speak — if you're passively observing, you're part of this invasion. Blood is on your hands too.
Very subtle!
Klitschko went on to say that "if you still have business and trade with Russia," then you are "bringing bullets and rockets into the Russian army's hands that kills today the innocent." So that's a message for American companies still operating in Russia right now. "Isolate, isolate," he said.
For what it's worth, let's see what Tucker Carlson's been saying the past few days. Oh here's a thing! He said that "it's not just possible, it's likely" that if "we eliminated" Vladimir Putin, then "Islamic extremists" will nuke bomb America! Aiyeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): So, let's say we eliminated the Russian head of state and of course that country's central government. What would happen to those weapons? Well, let's see. In Iraq, Saddam's weapons stockpiles, all conventional, wound up in the hands of militia that used them to kill Americans.
So Russia has a large and restive population of Islamic extremists. Do we think it's possible that with no one running the country — because of course we have no chosen successor to Putin — is it possible, if we did that, that one of those 6,000 nuclear weapons might wind up in the hands of some anti-American terror group and be used against our civilian population here? A nuclear weapon. Well, it's not just possible, it's likely.
Now, why would Tucker be talking about that? Well obviously because Joe Biden said out loud what everybody is thinking about how Putin shouldn't be in power, so it must be time for the Kremlin's chief propagandists and TV stars to spread bullshit about what will really happen if Putin is removed from power. All the Islamic extremists would go get the nuclear weapons and they'd put them in the nuclear weapons dispenser and they'd dispense them at America! "It's not just possible, it's likely," says noted war expert Tucker Carlson.
Links from that last paragraph now!
Were Biden's Nine Naughty Words For Putin A Good Gaffe, The Best Gaffe, Or Neither?
Mother Jones: Tucker Carlson Is Russian Propaganda. Literally.
He also said last night we're going to need to do the 25th Amendment to Joe Biden. You know, because it'd be a disaster to remove the Russian leader but the American one? Fine.
We don't know what Candace Owens has said in the last few days because we haven't looked it up, but we're sure it's trash.
What was the Kyiv mayor's brother saying again? Yeah.
[Media Matters / ibid.]
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